The town of Shelburne in Nova Scotia housed a full-fledged naval base from 1941 to 1946. With the end of WWII, the base was decommissioned in 1946, but it was not done yet. After having been used as a School for Boys until 1955, the base was reactivated.
The Cold War made this a strategic point for listening to submarines. Underwater hydrophones connected to long acoustic arrays on the ocean floor listened for the characteristic sounds of submarines. The facility was closed in 1994.
The next chapter is what we are interested in, kinda.
Instead of demolishing these big sturdy buildings, why not use them for film production? The idea was great; the business didn't follow.
By 2011, it was sold again, and the owner has done nothing with the buildings since.
Today, the facilities are "Access at your own risk". Light use of graffiti; I guess that being so far out of the way isn't interesting to artists who want to be seen.
So, in I went with a friend to take pictures; you can find those on the Photography site (menu at the top). The second time, I went there all by myself for some sound recording. The huge halls presented a nice opportunity to record crunching footsteps with natural echoes and the like.
However, when I arrived in the biggest building, the wind had picked up. Apparently a chunk of metal was hanging loose outstide of the roof and was banging against the building.
No more quiet, crunchy footsteps, MAYHEM!
Here is the recording of that hall. Everything is natural, no extra echoes/reverb/etc added.
There are more buildings in which I recorded, but those are for another time. I guess nobody will want to spend a night in this kind of environment. All in all, quite creepy.
Enjoy the sound!
Until next time...